


Silent Shadows

by Adoravel_Fenomeno



Series: KitTy one-shot AUs [5]
Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Wicked Powers Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: ???? - Freeform, A dream eater I guess, A shadow maybe, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, But he isn't exactly a demon either, But he isn't exactly a witch, Dark Magic, Friendship/Love, I don't really know what he is, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adoravel_Fenomeno/pseuds/Adoravel_Fenomeno
Summary: The darkness first showed up when Kit was seven years old. It stayed quiet, in the corner of the room, not bothering anybody. Kit was terrified of it.Although Kit was sure he had a monster, or a demon following him, he couldn’t deny it never harmed him. It never harmed, and it never intentionally scared him. If anything, the shadow only made his life better....In which Kit is a normal teenager with not such a normal dad, and Ty is a dream eater that lives in his house.
Relationships: Johnny Rook & Kit Rook, Tiberius Blackthorn/Kit Rook
Series: KitTy one-shot AUs [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876717
Comments: 16
Kudos: 67





	Silent Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> So, this one is based on two books that I was really scared of when I was younger: The dream eater, by Michael Ende, and Heckedy Peg, by Audrey Wood. They're terrifying books, and, if you ever have children, do not let them read it. Really. But, I tried to make something cute out of it, so I guess it was for the best :)
> 
> TW: There are some mentions of child abuse (sorry, I made Johnny even more of an asshole than he is in canon), and there's one gruesome scene. That one is completely based on Heckedy Peg, so I don't know how much it is actually gruesome and how much is just my childhood fright telling me it's horrible.
> 
> (Tiny reminder that this is the fifth part of a series where I’ll be posting KitTy one-shot AUs twice a week. The next one will be up on Sunday!)
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing❤️❤️❤️

The darkness first showed up when Kit was seven years old. It stayed quiet, in the corner of the room, not bothering anybody. Kit was terrified of it.

It made noises, sometimes. Kit assumed it was eating, or drinking something. That was what it sounded like, at least. Sometimes it was the sound of pages being leafed through, or the radio being turned on in a classical music station.

Although Kit was sure he had a monster, or a demon following him, he couldn’t deny it never harmed him. It never harmed, and it never intentionally scared him. If anything, the shadow only made his life better.

Most kids in movies said they couldn't sleep because there was a monster in their room; under their bed, or in their closet. Kit started sleeping better when his shadow showed up.

He had nightmares, of course. Every child had nightmares. But his always stopped right in the scary part, right when he thought the zombies would catch up to him, or when the villain would stick a knife to his stomach. 

It stopped, and, instead, a boy appeared. He never showed his face, but Kit learned to identify him. Black coal hair, pale moonlight skin. He unhinged his jaw and swallowed whole the cause of Kit’s nightmare, allowing him a good night of sleep.

As the years went on, Kit realized the shadow was extremely helpful. When he didn’t know the answer to a homework exercise, the shadow would often circle the right number. When Kit felt like he couldn’t breathe, it would throw his inhaler onto the floor next to him. When his dad locked him in the basement, it made him company.

One day, around the time that Kit had started saying good morning and good night to it, a black cat showed up. Kit was terrified that his dad would be angry at him, but the cat disappeared in the darkness whenever the door opened. Kit was the only one allowed to pet it.

Although nobody else could see it or hear it, Kit knew. He had a friend who never left his side.

...

When Kit was eleven years old, all remaining fear of the shadow went away. 

Quiet darknesses that helped him with his nightmares weren’t scary, he realized. Real life was much worse.

It was one of those terrible days—his dad had locked him in the basement like Mother Gothel locked Rapunzel in a tower. He had already finished all his video games, done all his homework, and read all his comic books. There was nothing else to do.

It was time to practice what his dad had so carefully taught him.

He grabbed a bobby pin and started working the lock, letting out a little huff of excitement when he achieved success. Kit sneaked out of his room silently and tiptoed his way to his living room, where his dad worked.

“ _Your shoes are dirty_ ,” he heard Johnny say. “ _You can’t come in._ ”

“ _I’ll take off my shoes, then_ ,” the voice outside the door yelled. “ _Now let me in. I want the spell reversed._ ”

“ _You can’t come in yet. Your socks are dirty,_ ” Johnny replied.

“ _I’ll take off my socks._ ” The voice sounded so desperate, Kit was ready to open the door, secrecy be damned. “ _Just let me in._ ”

“ _You can’t. Your feet are dirty._ ”

“ _Then I’ll cut them off._ ” 

Kit heard a painful scream. He covered his nose and mouth to muffle his heavy breathing, and, with the other hand, gripped his chest as to calm his quickly-beating heart.

The sound of the door opening and the stranger crawling on the floor echoed through the house.

“ _Guess which candle it is,_ ” his dad said, “ _if you get it right, I’ll have the spell reversed. If you don’t, you’ll never see them again. You have one chance._ ”

The expectation was built in the heavy silence that beat in Kit’s eardrums. He didn’t know if it was fear that clogged up his lungs or the strong smell of sulfur.

“ _That one,_ ” the stranger said.

His dad hummed. “ _Wrong._ ”

When Kit heard the squishy sound of a knife being buried in someone’s body, he made his way back to the basement, back to his safe shadow.

...

At first, Ty was confused as to why that kid was scared of him. He was careful to never show himself. He knew the black runes curling in his arms were unsettling to see in a seven-year-old, and so were his shining silver eyes.

So, if Kit only saw a piece of void, why was he so scared?

Plus, Ty didn’t care about him, nor his life. He wasn’t there for Kit, he was there to eat his nightmares. He only needed them to survive, there was no reason for Kit to be so terrified.

But the real confusion came up when Kit stopped being so scared of him. From one day to another, Kit started saying hello to the heap of darkness that was Ty, and he even cracked some jokes in Ty’s direction.

What had changed?

Ty never discovered. He did, however, feel happy. Kit had started interacting with him, actually interacting with him! It was the first time in four years that Ty wasn’t alone.

Just to test the waters, Ty released his familiar. She was a tiny black lynx, so small that she seemed like a fat cat. Just like him, she manifested as a little part of darkness, almost like a shadow.

If Kit could deal with his familiar, maybe he could deal with him, too.

As the years went on, Ty tried to interact with him in every little way possible, building up to the day that, maybe, he could reveal himself.

It was a little help in the biology exercises Kit seemed to struggle with. Sometimes he turned the radio on at a station he liked. Even rarer, he grabbed a few books that he saw Kit was reading. Just to feel close to him.

Finally, the friend he had hoped for had started liking him back.

...

After the eighth year of living in the Rook’s household, Ty came out of the shadows.

“Can you turn the volume down?” he asked, wincing at the loud noises the video game Kit was playing made.

Kit snapped his head back and stared at Ty with widened eyes, immediately falling from his bean bag.

“Oh my God… You’re— You’re the—” Ty thought about pointing out the irony of Kit calling God, but decided against it. He seemed creeped out enough. “You’re the monster that’s been following me.”

Ty scowled. “I’m not a monster. My name’s Ty.”

Sure, he had some creepy tattoos and gleaming eyes, but monster was a bit too much. He was a human being under all that.

“Oh my god,” Kit repeated as he stood up. He looked around the basement, taking in all the mess he had left; empty pizza boxes, Pepsi bottles, and clothes thrown on the floor. He blushed a little bit. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to tidy up.”

“I’ve lived with you for years now, I’ve seen worse.”

“Right.” They both fell into an uncomfortable silence for a couple of seconds before Kit gestured to the TV and video game console. “Do you wanna play?”

“That has never seemed appealing to me." Ty scrunched his face. “I’ve seen you reading those books, though. They look interesting.”

Kit relaxed his shoulders, and a smile appeared on his face. _It looks good on him,_ Ty thought. 

“Yeah, sure.” Kit walked to the bookshelf and picked up a few of his comic books.

Ty walked next to him, and one book with a scarlet cover drew his attention. “What about this one?” he asked.

“Oh. Sherlock Holmes. I had to read it for school. Do you want it?”

Ty nodded enthusiastically. “I managed to see a few bits while you were reading, but I never expected to be able to read it myself.”

Kit smiled back, his blue eyes—were they always so blue? Had the shadow tainted Ty’s vision?—gleaming with a hint of sorrow.

Ty sat on Kit’s bed and opened the book. The margins were scribbled with a scrawly, even childish, handwriting. Ty, after reading the contents of every page, took the time to read Kit’s witty annotations as well.

After a while, his familiar jumped on the bed next to him. Normally, he would ignore her, but Kit got increasingly excited at the way the lynx played with the bedsheets.

“Why did you never show up to me, but she did?” Kit asked as he started to pet her.

“I was scared.”

He hummed. “Does she have a name?”

Ty had never thought much about it. She was his familiar, she didn’t need any more definitions. “No.”

“How about Irene? That’s a character in Sherlock Holmes.”

Ty smiled. “Perfect.”

…

It was another one of those nights. Those nights when Kit had been locked in the basement all day because Johnny had been working on a particularly difficult case.

Since that day, when he was eleven, Kit had never disobeyed his dad again. If Johnny was working, Kit would stay in the basement. Quiet. Still. He wouldn’t meddle where he wasn’t called, because that was way worse than just playing video games.

But, when his father had been working all day… Well. He didn’t open Kit’s door with the biggest smile in the world, either. When that happened, he was always angry, always frustrated.

That time, though. That time was different. Johnny’s shirt was stained with blood, and Kit could tell he had been drinking. He smelled like sulfur, incense, and dark magic. He smelled like death.

Kit’s breath quickened as his father screamed, and he didn’t know if he was scared or having another one of his asthma attacks.

The moment that his father took a step closer to him, all the light bulbs exploded.

Green flames emerged from the ground, licking up the walls to the ceiling. They didn’t burn anything, but the heat was almost unbearable.

His dad fell to the ground. He let out a soundless scream as his mouth filled with the blood that poured from his eyes and nose.

On his knees, Johnny Rook died.

Kit’s breath evened out progressively, and he was left staring at the corpse on the floor.

“Are you okay?” Ty asked, walking to his side.

“I am, now.”

“Are you mad at me?”

Kit thought about his dad killing that person when he was eleven years old. He thought about his dad throwing him in the basement and locking the door. He thought about his dad. 

“No,” he answered. “I’m grateful.”

…

Ty had never liked Johnny Rook much. He remembered the first time they met, a shining green circle on the floor, and tears filling up his eyes.

Then, soon after he had found a good wall to build his darkness cocoon in, Johnny had thrown a crying young boy inside the room. A crying young boy, who seemed to be about his age, and was terrified.

And he also remembered the spells he saw Johnny performing in the kitchen, in the living room. The dark spells.

No, Ty had always hated Johnny Rook. 

Even when Kit didn’t like Ty a lot, he could see that what Johnny did to his kid was wrong. He wanted to protect Kit like he hadn’t been able to protect himself.

Now that he and Kit were friends, Ty would never let anyone touch him.

...

Kit left Johnny’s body rotting on the threshold of the basement and went up the stairs to his room. Ty followed right behind him, and, when Kit lied down on his bed, he took a step into the wall, turning into shadow right away.

“How do you have so much power?” Kit asked in the dark. _How did you manage to kill my dad without even touching him_ , was implied.

“The devil gave it to me.”

“Oh." Kit turned in his bed, looking at the darkness. "How did that work?”

“I sold my soul to him. He had told me he could bring my sister back if I worked for him.”

“Did he bring her back?”

“No.” Ty gave a pause. “But he didn’t lie; he could. He just didn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Kit tried to sleep, he really did. But whenever he tried closing his eyelids, the image of Johnny falling to the ground lit up.

“And why do you follow me and not someone else?” he asked when he gave up.

“Do I bother you?”

“No,” Kit rushed. “No, in no way. I’m just curious.”

“Your dad summoned me a few years ago, right when I had first started working. I was what, six, seven years old? I can’t remember correctly. I don’t think he meant it, though. I think he did it by accident.”

“And you never thought of leaving?”

“That seems scarier than staying.”

Kit hummed in agreement. He scrunched his eyes closed, buried his head into the pillow; anything to force himself to sleep. But his body was restless, energy running through every path of veins.

“Hey, Ty?” he called again.

“Yes?”

“Can you come here?”

Kit felt his mattress dip, and someone lie down next to him. In the dark, he searched for Ty’s hands and held them tightly to his chest.

“Thank you for being with me all these years.”

“Thank you for giving me a place to stay.”

Soon, Kit fell asleep, Ty’s warm hand protecting his heart from any danger.

...

“I’m moving out,” Kit said to the shadows as he entered his room.

Ty stepped out of the dark, his silver eyes shining and his hand twisting the bottom hem of his t-shirt.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Devon.” Kit climbed on a chair to get the suitcase kept on top of his wardrobe. He put it on his bed and started sorting through his belongings, deciding what could stay and what could leave. “Some family friends live there, and they said they could take me in.”

“Isn’t Devon out of the country?”

“Yeah, it’s in England.” Kit looked up at him, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. “Do you think you can come with me?”

Ty cracked a big smile and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I’m sure I can.”

...

On his first night, when Kit had just arrived in Devon, he lied down in bed. The mattress dipped next to him immediately.

A warm hand slipped into his own, a hand that he knew all too well.

“Is it better in here?” Ty’s voice asked, and Kit pulled him closer.

“Even better now that you’re with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> One day, when they're older:  
> Kit: *bangs on the wall next to the shadow* Ty, come out.  
> Ty: I’M GAY  
> Kit: .....I know.
> 
> Drop some comments/kudos if you wanna make my heart beat a little faster :)  
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
